A bit dusty for today’s ride, but the rest of the track conditions were great.
13 of us headed off into the triangle in bright sunshine. There was the usual regroup at the top of the first hill, and everyone seemed to be tracking along well.
As the conditions were so good, I thought it was time to tackle the rocky climb up to the Mt Gordon lookout. This was an ‘optional’ hill climb, so there were plenty that chose to be spectators and watch our attempts - I hope they got good value for their money.
Next, it was a quick loop around the outskirts of Marysville township, and across the bitumen to the Dom Dom side of the road, and in amongst the denser trees for better shade. We climbed Strickland Link track, and at the top the choice was given to either go back down via the much ‘rockier’ Strickland Spur track, or take the road back to the bottom – half went each way.
After talking up the difficulty of Strickland Spur, it was a bit disappointing to see that most of the rock ledges now had little rock ramps in front of them. That made things much easier than last time I went down it.
From there we did a couple of overgrown twisty tracks, (where I managed to get stuck in a bog hole - thanks for the help Stuart) and then it was decided to have a play over in the Narbethong forest, with a quick stop for lunch once we got there.
Ted decided to call it a day at lunch time, so Mark gave him an escort back to the highway, and then re-joined the group.
As I’m still very uncertain of the tracks on the Narby side of the highway, Mark took over the role of ride leader. Suddenly, the L1/L2 ride seemed to be getting progressively more challenging, with the slopes getting steeper, and the ruts much deeper.
The pinnacle was a tight rocky climb that finished at an old quarry – the arms were certainly complaining a bit at that stage!
Then it was an easy jaunt down the main trails back to the highway. Mark took a few back to the cars via the roads at that point, whilst the rest of us had a further blast through the triangle.
Thanks to everyone for coming along – I had a great time, and I hope you all did too.
And thanks especially to Mark for taking the ride leader role for the second half of the ride, and to Colin who was tailman all day (he obviously has a serious fetish for dust!)